University of Groningen
Properties of organic-inorganic hybrids
Kamminga, Machteld Elizabeth
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Publication date: 2018
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Kamminga, M. E. (2018). Properties of organic-inorganic hybrids: Chemistry, connectivity and confinement. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
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It is hard to believe that my time in Groningen has come to an end. I had a great time and it is hard to say goodbye. However, I will leave with a lot of wonderful memories. I learned a lot, had the opportunity to present my work at international conferences, collaborate with several people and be surrounded by a nice atmosphere. Therefore, this work could not have been done without a number of people, who all contributed in one way or another. At first I would like to thank my promotor Professor Palstra. Thom, thank you for having me in your group. After my short research project with Alex, I wanted to join your group with my research proposal on the optical properties of novel organic-inorganic compounds. For this I also want to thank NWO for funding. As you can see from this thesis, the scope of my project has widened to several physical properties and I want to thank you for giving me the freedom to develop my own ideas and use my creativity. I enjoyed our discussions. Sometimes we disagreed, but I think that this made my work more interesting. I did expect I was going to say this, but I want to thank you for pushing me out of my comfort zone. I have to admit, sending me to New Orleans for an invited talk (without asking me beforehand), leaving our university to become Rector Magnificus of the University of Twente and suggesting me to take on a project in a different research group in Twente for two days a week was quite a stretch. However, I have to agree that these experiences did make me grow, so thank you for that. For now I wish you all the best in Twente, I really think this is the place for you. However, if you ever want to talk research, you know where to find me!
I want to thank my promotor Professor Loi. Maria, we have interacted on several occasions, whether I synthesized something or looked at a crystal structure for your group, or we discussed some optical data Hong-Hua measured for me on our crystals. We have co-authored a couple of publications over the past few years and I enjoyed our discussions. I want to thank you for being there for me, while also giving me the space to develop other research projects that do not necessarily overlap with the scope of your research. Here I also want to thank Hong-Hua for his optical measurements and discussions.
Dr. Blake, dear Graeme, I want to thank you for all the interactions we had during my PhD. Also a big thank you for ‘adopting’ me in your group and becoming my copromotor after Thom left for Twente. Your friendly nature has been very welcoming and I do not think I know many people who are as patient as you are. Single-crystal XRD remains one of my favorite techniques and I have learned a lot from you. Thank you for teaching me and spending hours with me behind the computer to solve complex twinning problems. I really enjoyed our discussions, especially when I realized that the level and complexity
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
of our discussions increased a lot. I also want to thank you for proof reading everything I wrote, that has been very helpful.
I want to thank Professors Palasantzas, Pappas and Clarke for assessing my thesis and being part of my defense ceremony. I am grateful that you took time out of your busy schedules to read my work and I hope you enjoyed it. Here I also want to thank Yingfen and Jordi for taking on their role as paranymph. I am happy to have you around during the preparation of my defense. Thank you for your support.
During my projects, I had the chance to interact and collaborate with a number of people. I want to thank Professor Giustino and Dr. Filip from the University of Oxford. Feliciano and Marina, thank you for taking on our complex crystal structure and performing the calculations. Apart from you nobody was brave enough to do so. Professor Zvereva and Dr. Chislov from St. Petersburg State University, Irina and Mikhail, thank you for performing low-temperature calorimetry measurements. Professor Picozzi and Dr. Stroppa from CNR-SPIN, Silvia and Alessandro, thank you for calculating the polarization in our highly twinned bismuth structure. Dr. De Wijs from Radboud University and Dr. Havenith from Groningen, Gilles and Remco, thank you for calculating our model structures and spending hours behind the computer with me to design the models. Professor Grozema, Mar´ıa G´elvez-Rueda and Sudeep Maheshwari from Delft University of Technology, Ferdinand, Mar´ıa and Sudeep, thank you for performing pulse-radiolysis time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements and calculations. I look forward to continue our collaboration. Professor Mostovoy and Maria Azhar from Groningen, Maxim and Maria, thank you for our interesting discussions and calculating the magnetic interactions in our copper structure. Professors Kataev and B¨uchner and Julian Zeisner from IFW Dresden, Vladislav, Bernd and Julian, thank you for your electron spin resonance measurements. Auke Meetsma, thank you for coming back to your old research group to help us solve the crystal structure of our bismuth compound. Gert ten Brink from Groningen and Mark Smithers form the University of Twente, thank you for helping me out with the SEM measurements. I want to thank Professors Ogawa and Tokura, Naoki and Yoshi, from RIKEN CEMS for their SHG measurements and I want to thank Dr. Caretta, Toni, from Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste for stimulating discussions on the manganese project.
I want to thank Professor Ten Elshof for having me in his lab. Andr´e, thank you for allowing me to join your lab at the University of Twente as a guest researcher for two days a week for several months. I really enjoyed our discussions and I am glad to see that we managed to combine our interests into a pretty exciting paper. I also want to thank all the group members at IMS to make me feel at home. A special thank you for Karin van den Nieuwenhuijzen and Marion Bollaan for providing me with everything I needed during my stay.
During my PhD project I had the chance to be the daily supervisor of several talented (under)graduate students. Romel, Annemarie, Vidushi and Irene, thank you for joining my project. It was a great pleasure to work with all of you and as you can read in this thesis, some very fruitful results came form your efforts. I wish you all the best in your future career!
I want to thank some former group members: Aisha, Guowei, Arnoud, Jeroen, Justin, Mai and Geert. I am going to miss ‘three o’clock - tea o’clock’, but we might meet again
in the future. For now I wish you all the best for your careers. Also a special thanks to Alex for introducing me into the world of organic-inorganic hybrid compounds during my short research project.
I want to thank our current group members, Yingfen, Silang, Liany, Joshua, Sanne, Ewout, Silvia, Hong, Jin, Jacob, Henriet, Henk, Anil, Lily, Laaya, Qikai, Mart, M´onica, Saeedeh, Cynthia, Koen, Vivi, Ruben, Rick, Jolle, Vincent, Eric, Nick, Jelte, Mohammad, Paven and Yuqin. You all made me feel at home. Over the past years, I had a great time: sharing ideas, lunch, dinner and drinks, BBQing, bowling, paintball (it still hurts when I think about it), go-karting (still my favorite!), sailing, conoeing, conferences and the group meetings. Keep up the good work!
I specifically want to thank Jacob and Henriet. Jacob, it is not easy to summarize, but thank you for everything. You are always willing to help, and it does not matter if your help is requested with a synthesis, measurement, broken equipment or anything that comes to mind. Thank you for listening and being one of the most solid people in the group. Henriet, thank you for organizing everything and keeping track of things that need to be done. Also thank you for listening to my future plans and your kindness.
Professor Nohedra, dear Beatriz, even though I never directly worked with you, you were always willing to help and to cheer me on. We talked a lot about my future plans and the art of writing a research proposal and I want to thank you for your input. It was impossible to leave your office without a smile on my face, so thank you for that.
There are several people within the institute I want to thank for making my time in Groningen the best. I want to thank Professor Dijkhuizen for being my mentor during my PhD. I also want to thank, Mustapha, Sampson, Gerrit-Jan, Yanxi, Alessio, Nilesh, Paul, Jamo, Kumar, Ping, Crystal and Arjan for their kindness and nice conversations. Wytse, thank you for chatting, coffee breaks and helping me with impossible tex questions.
Ik wil graag mijn familie bedanken. Allereerst mijn broers, Chris-Jan en Martin, bedankt voor jullie betrokkenheid, interesse en natuurlijk jullie grapjes over ‘het b`etazusje’. Martin, heel erg bedankt voor het maken van de mooie omslag van dit proefschrift! Ik wist al dat je talent had, maar hij is echt mooi geworden. Pap en mam, heel erg bedankt voor jullie betrokkenheid, enthousiasme en niet aflatende support. Ik weet dat jullie altijd in mij geloven en me vanaf de zijlijn aanmoedigen. Mam, ik denk nog steeds dat niemand mijn onderzoek zo goed en behapbaar aan het brede publiek kan uitleggen als jij, bedankt daarvoor. Pap, bedankt voor het vele meedenken met, luisteren naar en brainstormen over alles wat bij onderzoek doen en een PhD komt kijken.
Als laatste wil ik graag mijn Tom bedanken. Jij hebt mijn PhD van het begin tot aan het einde meegemaakt en bent er altijd voor mij geweest. Ik vind het heerlijk dat ik gewoon hardop mag denken en al mijn idee¨en met je mag delen. Sterker nog: met je kan delen. Bedankt voor je steun, enhousiasme en vooral ook je rust. Die heb ik soms hard nodig. Jij bent nu bezig met je PhD. Ik weet dat je dat tot een goed einde gaat brengen en ik dank je voor de ruimte die je mij geeft me verder te ontwikkelen. Op naar het volgende avontuur!
Machteld E. Kamminga Groningen, May 1, 2018
